Coming Up On The Inner Wheel

A Progressions Refresher course is available for those who have taken Progressions One in the past. More details soon.

Looking forward to talking with you all again!

The Gyre is up and running again. New features will be announced shortly.

APRIL 2014

PROGRESSIONS ONE begins scheduling March 4th. The seven lesson class will be followed by part one of THE DARK GODDESS, which goes in depth into the four major asteroids Ceres, Juno, Vesta and Pallas and, as an antidote, the Black Moon Lilith. This will be followed by PROGRESSIONS TWO later in the summer and The Dark Goddess part two (both involving synastry) in the early autumn.

In Summer there will be another offering of Three for Three--three short term classes running simultaneously. One will be another session of Deep Cuts running in tandem with a refresher course for Progressions for those who would like more practice. The progressions refresher will also include transits and timing of major events. The third three part class is TBA.

Two courses are in development for autumn and winter of next year: one on astrology and alchemy and another on astrological imagery in Shakespeare. Stay tuned for more details.

Earlier News 2012, 2013:

The NASA probe "Dawn" has just sent back the first pictures from Vesta, a strange and wonderful place. You can see them here:

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003128/

All Things Healing is picking up my four part series on The Music of the Spheres for the month of August. The pieces will appear each week beginning Friday the 5th for four weeks (www.allthingshealing.com). Thanks to Patricia Lantz, their hardworking astrology editor!

Details for Progressions Two: Progressions in Synastry will be up soon. Stay tuned!

June 14th:

Thanks to Patricia Lantz, astrology editor at All Things Healing.com, for picking up my recent articles on the Saturn/Progressed Moon cycle. If you haven't taken a look at All Things Healing recently, please do. There is a lot of helpful information there about everything from healthy recipes to finding alternative practitioners. It's worth taking a stroll through all the quality information they have on offer.

June 12th:
Very honored to be mentioned in Mary Plumb's round-up of astrology blogs in the new edition of The Mountain Astrologer. I've been reading TMA for many years and seeing my name there is a bit of a surreal treat. Thanks for including The Inner Wheel, Mary!

June 3rd:

Happy to announce that The Inner Wheel is way up at number 11 in the list of "Best Astrology Blogs" according to Alexa ranking. Thanks, everyone, for returning and making it so popular. I'm in stellar company. Let's see if we can crack the top ten...

I'm absolutely delighted to pass on a report from one of my students and friends, Neeti Ray: the NASA spacecraft "Dawn" (whoever heard of such a thing?) has just entered into the orbit of the asteroid Vesta. One for the synchronicity books. Affirmations from the universe...

New Section Soon: Archetypes in Action

Archetypes in Action will consist of random musings on the reflection of astrological signs and symbols in daily life.

Secondary Progressions are absolutely crucial to any natal chart interpretation. They’re the ‘why’ behind the ‘who’ of the natal chart and the ‘what’ of the transits. Without a correct interpretation of secondaries, we have no focus, no perspective on personal development nor on our spiritual evolution. For those of you new to the field, more details on what secondary progressions are and an overview of how they operate in the chart can be read in the post, The Progressed Chart Confusion. Ever wonder why an anticipated ‘big’ transit didn’t come off? The answer is in secondary progressions.

I’ve been teaching classes in secondaries for a while now, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the classroom situation is not the best teaching format for this subject. There is no question that secondaries qualify as ‘advanced’ astrology and need focused concentration. Most students have a lot of questions about secondaries. It’s hard to find good information and what is out there is often dated, overly technical, and focused on prediction. Secondly, there are a lot of misconceptions about secondary progressions–my favorite one is that the slower moving planets don’t matter–and how they relate to the natal chart. Sometimes, with classes, by the time you get around to correcting everyone’s misinformation, there is little time to actually learn the techniques of interpretation. Thirdly, there is just too much technique to absorb in two chunks of time. You need to play with secondaries to really ‘get’ them.

This is a course on how to read and interpret the secondary progressed chart. The emphasis is not on prediction (though this does crop up) but on the ability of the secondary progressed chart to reveal what is being emphasized in terms of the soul’s growth. As Shakespeare said, “The readiness is all” and secondaries reveal to us what we are ripe for knowing. Secondary progressions provide meaning and context to transits and directions. We will see how they provide a guide to important, dynamic and necessary change via the soul and the psyche. Reading the progressed chart correctly gives a perspective on the natal chart that was previously missing. The quote I hear most often from students after the course is, “I don’t know how I interpreted a chart before this.” Progressions often bring us a sense of wonder and magic in the timing of the universe, and provide us with continued inspiration in the practice of our art. I never cease to be awed and humbled by what is revealed in progressed charts.

This series of six structured classes is $210, and will begin in early March. There will be one hour long lesson per week at a time to be mutually arranged (I will take the cost of the phone call if you are on my worldwide calling plan). Landlines or Skype are preferred. The fee for the class can be paid in two installments of $105. If you need other financing options, I’m happy to discuss them. I’m hoping to begin this series of classes the week of March 7th.

Lessons will be tailored to the ability of each student, but in general will be as follows:

Lesson One: Overview of Secondary Progressions: how secondary progressions are calculated, the difference between secondary and transiting aspects, the importance of the Progressed Angles and their rulers. Homework: Training the eye. Exercise in the use of old rulerships and the importance of the Moon in secondary progressions.

Lesson Two: Interpreting the Progressed Sun and the Progressed Moon; the soli-lunar progressed cycle and how it relates to the Moon/Saturn cycle, Progressed Sun and Moon as triggers, aspects and orbs of influence.

Lesson Three: Overview of the way aspects behave in secondary progressions. Inner Progressed Planets and Progressed Aspects. Retrogradations and stations of the inner planets.

Lesson Four: The Outer Planets in progression, retrogradation of the outer planets; the progressed Nodes and Vertex. Homework comparing two similar natal charts via progression.

Lesson Five: Relating the progressed to the natal. Transits as triggers to long term progressions.

Lesson Six: A Case Study: Progressions through a lifetime. (Subject to be determined. This lesson is 90 minutes.)

There is a voluntary final exam, which consists of analyzing progressions for a crisis year in two charts.

These lessons will put you well on the way to interpreting secondaries accurately and using them to focus on what is most important in a chart at any given time, allowing you to understand what is revealing itself in terms of the soul’s development. I will provide some material via email and also links to significant articles.

Places fill up quickly, and I won’t be able to take on that many students at a time, so if you’re interested please email me at alcuin9@gmail.com. Needless to say, an adequate working knowledge of natal astrology is necessary as a prerequisite. You will need access to a professional astrology program like Solar Fire, or to astro.com.

I will be offering, in the near future, Progressions Two, which focuses on reading the progressed chart in terms of relationships–timing for relationships, relationship compatibility and attraction, and problems and issues that can be seen in the progressed chart. Due to the level of expertise required, the series of classes I’m offering now (Progressions One) will be a prerequisite to the relationship classes (Progressions Two). There are no exceptions to this, as I am providing material that cannot be found elsewhere, which you will need to navigate your way through Progressions Two, even if you are experienced in using secondaries. The Progressions Two class will be offered later in the Spring.

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A new edition of the Gyre was just sent out. I'm happy to report that Mailchimp, my newsletter server, has just made it a lot easier to add graphics and content, so putting out the Gyre will not be as time consuming as it once was. There was a teaser for upcoming articles on The Dark Goddess.

The next edition will have an article on Sacred Earth, which looks at the mystical element of the Earth signs.

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